Prague, 20 May 1997 (RFE/RL) - In Bucharest next week, parliamentarians from the 40 member states of the Council of Europe will hold a series of meetings dealing with human rights, economic reform and political affairs in Central and Eastern Europe.

Council officials tell our correspondent that high Romanian officials, including Foreign Minister Adrian Severin, are due to attend some of the committee meetings of the Strasbourg-based organization's Parliamentary Assembly. Severin is scheduled to participate in the Political Committee's discussions of the situations in Albania and Belarus, among other items.

The officials also say that Gyorgy Tokay, an ethnic Hungarian who is the Romanian government's highest-ranking official on national minority problems, will attend a meeting of the Assembly's Human-Rights Committee.

The Assembly's Economic Affairs Committee will review economic reforms over the past six years both in Romania specifically and in the area generally.

Since 1990, the Council of Europe has admitted 16 Central and East European states. Its Parliamentary Assembly is composed of nationally elected officials.